WITH THE GAA’s fixtures task force set to deliver their recommendations for a revamped calendar later this month, their proposals are likely to be put forward to Congress and won’t come in until 2021.
The committee are expected to put forward two or three motions to go to Central Council and if approved, on to be voted by county delegates at next February’s Congress.
It means that the Tier 2 competition in the All-Ireland SFC may only last one season before another potential revamp of the structure.
That’s a source of great frustration for Gaelic Players Association CEO Paul Flynn, who says the majority of players who could be competing in the second tier championship are still very much opposed to its introduction.
“They’re not happy,” he said. “And you know there’s a sense sometimes with regards to these things, that players ‘just get on with it’. But we’re not happy with that.
“There are some counties that are very vocal about it, still against it. And there are others that are really disappointed. We don’t want to get into a culture of ‘typical’.
“It can’t be that way. The fixtures committee can come up with recommendations, but they won’t be implemented until 2021, so we’re in a one-year limbo stage.
“If the Fixtures Task Committee come back with great findings, we’re then going to have this one-year limbo which is going to be daft if you ask me.
“It is disappointing that at Congress, there was some county board officials standing up promoting the Tier 2, where we know the players in their squad had voted against the Tier 2.”
There’s a fear that the Tier 2 competition could suffer a similar faith as the Tommy Murphy Cup and draw apathy from players and supporters alike.
It’s been suggested that there could be a summer exodus of inter-county stars from the counties involved to the States if they decide the Tier 2 competition is not worth sticking around for.
“There’s always going to be that danger, and that’s what we’ve outlined,” admits Flynn.
“Unless these games are given proper promotion, proper structures, put on at the same time as the senior football games, then there’s always going to be that risk.
“Even with regards to some of the things in the hurling this year, we’ve been pushing so hard to get these games promoted. It’s increasingly difficult, but we need to make those assurances.
“We’re not the media rights holders of the games, that’s the GAA who do that. All we can do is lobby the GAA and then it’s the GAA who are the media rights holders to be speaking to the broadcasters.”
Flynn shakes his head in frustration when he’s asked about the text message sent by RTÉ’s Head of Sport Declan McBennett that was read out by GAA President John Horan at last month’s Special Congress.
McBennett’s message gave encouragement that the “business end” of the Tier 2 championship would receive live TV coverage, but nothing was guaranteed.
“I can’t explain how infuriating that was. To read out a text like that and there was that many ‘maybes’ and ‘could bes’ and ‘potentiallys’ in it that there was no assurances.
“This is the thing, it just needs to be black and white. Players weren’t given that and that’s why they didn’t support it. Two-thirds of the players from Division 2, 3 and 4 who could potentially be impacted by it this year, were against it.
“And then the administrators roll in and there’s just that disconnect there. I just don’t understand how they can’t listen to the players who are the guys who are going to be playing the game.
“It’s not gone away yet, it’s not finished but these are always going to be the challenge that we have to get the players’ voice heard.
“We do a lot of work in getting the players’ voice, understanding what they want us to represent, we represent their voice and then the administrators don’t listen. That makes it difficult.”
Laois boss Eddie Brennan was among those to voice their dissatisfaction at the new All-Star hurling format which saw the McDonagh Cup awards scrapped this year.
Last season three separate Champion 15 teams were selected from the lower tier competitions (McDonagh, Ring and one combining Rackard and Meagher).
This time around 45 players received Champion 15 nominations with 15 players eventually named on the team, while the McDonagh players were instead included in the MacCarthy Cup All-Stars.
Just two players from the second tier competition made the shortlist for the main All-Stars – Laois duo Enda Rowland and Jack Kelly. The McDonagh Cup was the only competition without its own set of awards.
In addition, the McDonagh, Ring, Rackard and Meagher Player of the Year awards were handed out on stage after RTÉ’s live TV coverage had ended.
The GPA are involved in the All-Star process alongside the GAA and Flynn accepts the system still requires tweaking.
“It’s a really fair point. There were changes made to the hurling All-Stars because of last year, the system was flawed as it was as well. They were decided by the county managers or someone like that. I think the Champion 15 for McDonagh and Ring last year there were two goalkeepers on the All-Star selection.
“What we wanted to try and do was make the two of them more relatable so you had 45 All-Stars nominees, 45 Champion 15 nominees and you pick two teams of 15,” explained Flynn.
“McDonagh was in with the Liam MacCarthy and it is always going to be challenging but when they get a nomination, that would be as good as getting on a Champion 15 that was selected by the managers.
“There was engagement with players as well on this but it hasn’t landed as well as maybe was expected so we’ll go back to the players now, review it and always be open-minded to improving it.
“You have to be and that’s what we’ll do with it. As regards the coverage they got, we worked with RTE and the GAA in advancement to make sure they were on TV, the Champion 15 selection. And it was difficult even to get that assurance, but we got it.
“Then they were due to do interviews on stage as well and they just cut them short. That was live TV because it overruns or whatever like that, I don’t know.
“Once it goes onto the day it’s RTE’s production team who run the whole thing. But it was disappointing. The reason we brought the guys up on stage on the day and spoke to them was to remedy it as much as we possibly could and rectify it as much as we possibly could.
“It was definitely an imperfect solution to an imperfect situation. But once we review the All-Stars as a whole we’ll look and see how we can improve it going forward.”
Finally, the six-time All-Ireland winner responded to recent criticism from Joe Brolly, who accused the players’ body of ushering in a “culture of individualism and rampant commercialism.”
Brolly also claimed the GPA is an “autonomous body” that is “free to pursue its own commercial activities” with its “unchecked capitalism.”
“I’m not going to get into a public spat with Joe Brolly,” responded Flynn.
“He’s entitled to his opinion as much as anybody is. But there were a couple of things he outlined that were factually untrue. Things around our commercial independence. We don’t actually have commercial independence, just to clarify that.
“We have through our agreement with the GAA, we aren’t actually able to go out and engage with corporates on our own. We can do it through a joint venture that we have with the GAA.
“Also around ‘unchecked, ungoverned’. We’ve very strong governing structures. You were at our AGM, we outlined it all in our annual report. We’re fully compliant with the government code for sporting organisations.
“We’re audited by Deloitte, a big four firm. We’ve a GAA representative on our finance committee. We’ve a remuneration committee with three independents, who decide on salaries, and all salaries are benchmarked against other sporting organisations and similar organisations that exist in our size.
“So when you read things that are factually incorrect, that kind of… because I know the good work that goes on, on our governance side of things, and it’s something that I, coming into the role, would be proud of and always trying to strengthen. I suppose it’s easy to kind of write an article and not be checked on it. That’s the only part.
“Other than that, he’s entitled to his opinion. Do you know what I mean? Like everyone else is. But I’ll keep fighting the fight for the players and representing them, and what’s best in their interest. And the players know that.
“It’s actually a bit like when you’re playing. There can be journalists out there who like you and don’t like you as a player. And I’ve learned one thing in my football career – you can control the controllables.
“You focus on your strategy, your game plan, what you want to achieve and keep driving on. There’s going to be people along the way who aren’t going to agree with you, but you’ve got to keep driving it on.
“Once you have an informed strategy based on feedback from players, based off best practice, that’s what we’ll continue to do. Some people will agree, some people won’t. Some people who don’t might actually start agreeing with me in time, and some will never.”
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